Description
I was listening to this podcast that discusses the threat of quantum computers to the bitcoin security model. At some point, users may need to switch to new private keys that cannot be found by quantum computers. The details are not clear yet, because so much about quantum computers is not clear yet. But one potential scenario is given in the podcast where there's a 10-year window for users to upgrade/migrate their keys to new quantum secure ones. This could be an interesting design exercise to do.
- How should wallets explain this upgrade to users?
- How do you handle reminders? Do you escalate them as the deadline nears?
- What might be the steps for users to migrate?
- How do backups change?
- What about migrating lightning channels? Multi-signature wallets?
This could be split up into a How it works page that discusses the technical basics (that research needs to be done anyways in order to design for it), and a reference design that provides matching user flows and design considerations (the upgradeable wallet seems in the same vein).